Wal Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

Last night, the MCHR screnned Robert Greenwald's new documentary "Wal Mart: The High Cost of Low Price," an uneven, long, but sometimes-compelling critique of the big-box behemoth. Greenwald made the outstanding Outfoxed film, an expose of Fox News, so I guess I expected more from his new offering. On the brightside, the film attracted over two-hundred people, and sitting in a church basement with that many people who give a damn tends to leave you feeling almost hopeful.

First off, saying something new and rhetorically effective about Wal Mart is tough. The Walton family's destruction of mom-and-pop stores, monopoly-like control over the retail market, union busting, refusal to give employees health care, and reliance on sweatshop labor to produce their cheap items are all familiar problems. And, as a high-profile lefty cause, invoking Wal Mart's problems prompts either nods from those who find their practices problematic or eye-rolling from those who don't. Hence, the challenge for Greenwald is two-fold: 1) reach beyond the already like-minded, and 2) tell us something we don't already know.

Here's what really worked in the film. Greenwald exposes Wal Mart stores, especially those out west, actively ENCOURAGING employees to go on public assistance, creating fliers telling low-wage employees to collect welfare, that the aid comes from their own tax dollars and they should obtain health care and other needs via public assistance. Greenwald juxtaposes this campaign with statistics about the huge number of Wal Mart employees who are indeed on public aid and the amount of tax dollars ($1.6 billion) that last year went to welfare for Wal Mart employees. That equation didn't surprise me one stitch, but it seemed like a great moment for convincing moderates and even fiscal conservatives that something is amiss.

Tax dollars essentially subsidize the largest and richest corporation in the world. Billions--literally--roll into the Wal Mart empire, but they can't offer health care or living wages to their employees, who in turn collect welfare, funded by tax payers instead of the billion-dollar industry that makes its fortunes on the backs of its health care-deprived employees.

Here's where the film lost that savvy. Later segments in the film focused on crime in Wal Mart parking lots. Now, I recognize the ethical obligation of the corporation to provide some safety for employees and customers, and I recognize the problematics the film point out about Wal Mart using its security cameras to bust union organizers instead of violent criminals...but I couldn't help imagining the reaction of corporate apologists and right-wingers (none of whom, to my knowledge, were at last night's screening) rolling their eyes and saying: "sure, it's the evil company's fault that someone got attacked outside its store." I'm not sure Greenwald anticipates this counter-critique. Talking to several MCHR members afterward, we also questioned the use of a rape victim's testimony during this segment of the film. The testimony was graphic and bordered on exploitative.

Next week's Tuesday night film, the last in the series, is "Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror," with a post-film discussion led by Detroit Bishop Thomas Gumbleton. Bishop Gumbleton, as well as the film's subject matter, ought to attract another big crowd.